Graham Pearcey

The route:

• Park at The Greyhound, Ash Street (approach via Shawfield Road), Ash, GU12 6LA. Food is served all afternoon until 9:00 PM daily.
• With your back to the pub car park, cross Shawfield Road, turn left and proceed the short distance to the roundabout. Bear right and continue along the right-hand side of Aldershot Road.
• At the A331, carefully cross both carriageways, immediately descend steps to the Blackwater Valley Path (BVP), turn left and emerge via a squeeze stile into Ash Road. Again carefully cross both carriageways, turn right and then first left at the entrance to the mobile homes site. Locate another squeeze stile, and continue some distance along the BVP until you emerge at the edge of a housing estate. Turn left and go under a road bridge, then immediately right through a metal gate into Tongham Community Wood. Follow the main path ignoring all turnings on the left, until you reach a T-junction in front of a barbed wire fence. Turn left to follow a straight path (the route of an old railway) to another metal gate.
• After the garages on both right and left, turn right into Garbetts Way and at the T-junction right again onto a road with a No Through Road sign. Pass Grange Court (right) and, just before the entrance to Grange Farm (left), go hard left through a gate. This is not obviously a public right of way until a Public Footpath sign directs you through a gate, over a stile and through the long grasses along the right-hand edge of a field to leave by another stile in the corner.
• Turn right on the road and cross to take the safe pavement past the Hogs Back Brewery, under the A31, under a second road bridge (Thundery Hill Bridge) and then left as the pavement zigzags downhill to emerge on a country lane (Thundery Hill). After passing houses, reach a crossroads and take the footpath diagonally right in front of you signed No Horses. Carefully cross a driveway bewaring cars, and suddenly reach a road (Blighton Lane).
• Turn left. Ignore the North Downs Way (NDW) sign on the left, continue past Farnham Golf Course (left) and its clubhouse (right), to a T-junction where you turn right.
• Follow the road until cottages appear on your right. As a road junction comes into view ahead, look for Swiss Cottage (right) and there take the NDW left to another road. Turn left, then right, following the NDW into woodland. When you come to the end of houses (right) and bungalows (left), turn right onto a wide bridleway. In about 100 metres, do NOT follow the NDW left up steps; instead, continue straight ahead to a road, then turn right. As the road bends left, cross to a safe pavement, and then as the road bends sharply right turn left onto a signed Public Footpath.
• Emerge by Kei’s Peking Restaurant, turn left and pass the pub building before turning right into St. Georges Road. After you’ve crossed the A31 by means of a road bridge, continue along St. Georges Road, almost immediately taking the steps (often slippery) down to your right and proceeding along a lane. Ignore side turnings and continue past Oak Tree View and Summerfield Cottage, to emerge further along St. Georges Road opposite the Badshot Lea sign.
• Turn right and cross to take the safe pavement towards the village. Then take the first right, signed “Unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles”, eventually reaching a main road opposite Badshot Lea Service Station workshop. Turn right and immediately after the red-brick bridge over a stream, right again onto the surfaced BVP which follows the stream and after about ten minutes turns into a muddier track alongside newer houses. Continue to follow the streamside path. When you reach a small wooden bridge, proceed straight ahead with Aldershot Park on your left and Tongham Pool visible on the right, across the stream. At the top corner of the park, continue to follow the streamside path until you emerge at the edge of a housing estate. Turn right but immediate left before the road bridge to retrace your steps to The Greyhound pub.

This route was last walked on 12 April 2010, and the directions were accurate then. Please e-mail me if you find any errors, if you would like a copy in Word format, or if you would prefer a version that starts and ends at Ash station (add 2 miles/ 0.75 hours).

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